Bring on the award winners!
We had a lovely evening last Friday when we hosted our annual awards evening at the Sycamore Trust UK premises in Dagenham. Each year, in the run-up to Christmas, we host an evening where we acknowledge the progress and achievements made by some of our young people and present the Jack Petchey Foundation annual awards.
Each year, thanks to the support of the Jack Petchey Foundation, which was set up over 20 years ago to inspire and motivate young people, we've given awards to a group of young people that we have supported throughout the year. There's no specific criteria to receiving a JPF award, as long as you've taken part on our groups and activities with a positive attitude, then you're in with a chance. Each of our youth projects and clubs were represented and there were also three awards that focused specifically on our summer activity week in August. In addition, we also made an award of our own.
The awards were presented by our new CEO, Cheryl Kearney. Our activities supervisor Matt Dyde was our event photographer and our host for the evening was Steve Dixon. We had a prompt start for a number of reasons, but the main one being that one of the young people receiving an award was due to be at our 18/30 group Christmas party at 7pm!
Robert
Thus, we began with an award for Robert, a very popular young man who had been nominated by his fellow 18/30 group members, who had to leave quite sharply afterwards in order not to be late for their Christmas meal!
Rhys
Following the award for Robert, we moved on to our award for our Alpha Group. This award went to Rhys, a young man known for his boundless energy and enthusiasm, which is why he was nominated by his peers for this JPF award.
Ethan
The next winner went to Ethan from our Alpha Steering Group. Ethan is a quiet, thoughtful and popular member of the group. He particularly enjoyed the Three Parks Challenge walk last spring when we found out that he has a talent for photography!
Ben
Our next award winner was Ben, who has really grown in confidence since joining the Bravo group in September 2022. This year he was an enthusiastic participant in our Summer of Sport month as well as our trip to Colchester Zoo.
Malachi
The next award went to Malachi, another quiet and respectful young man. We know that when his family needed him earlier this year, he stepped forward and showed great maturity in looking after his younger brother. Malachi is a very popular member of the Bravo Steering Group and we were delighted to present him with a JPF award for achievement.
Evie
At this point, we moved on to the outdoor week nominations and we were thrilled to present an award to Evie. Although she was a little nervous on the opening morning, Evie attacked each task with great enthusiasm , and conquered every challenge that we put in front of her. And she maintained a huge smile throughout! She is a popular member of our girls group, but she received her JPF award for her outstanding efforts during the outdoor week in August.
There were two more outdoor week awards, but the two recipients were unable to receive their awards. They went to Lily, who joined the Bravo Group in 2022 but impressed us all with her bravery and enthusiasm whilst at Lambourne and during the Summer of Sport event. Similarly, we were delighted to nominate Ollie for his efforts at Lambourne and Fairlop. He was cool, calm and collected and set a great example to some of the other young people, many of whom were a little nervous about taking part.
Ollie
Our final award was our special Sycamore Trust UK Positive Contribution award and this is one that we choose from all the people who have gone over and above during the year. This year, the award went to Ollie Curtin, who raised over £500 for Sycamore by completing the Swim Serpentine in September, a two mile swim in open water. On top of that, Ollie is also a popular and regular member of our Autism Hub Peer Group, so he was an outstanding candidate to be recognised and we were delighted to present him with our annual Sycamore Trust award.
Once again, it was a great event and a chance to reflect on another busy year, but a year full of achievements, progress and personal development. Thanks to Cheryl for presenting the awards and to Matt & Steve for making it happen. But most of all, thank you to all the award winners - well deserved!